DETROIT >> Bronco McKart’s farewell party came a lot sooner than he expected. Tony Harrison scored a first-round TKO over the former world champion in their WBU middleweight title fight late Friday before several thousand fans at Cobo Center in Detroit, prompting the long-time veteran to hang up his gloves for good.

McKart, who came in with a 56-10-1 record, pressed the action from the start. But it only took a few punches to tell who was in charge. Harrison dropped McKart, from Monroe, before 30 seconds had elapsed in the fight. Before long, McKart had hit the canvas three times before referee Sam Williams called the fight over in the first round.

“It was a left hook behind my ear,” McKart said of the first punch which dropped him. “It knocked my equilibrium off. I tried to make it a war and I got caught. It was a good solid left hook.”

There were plans for a hometown fight in Monroe to cap McKart’s boxing career, a career that has spanned 22 years and included a WBO world junior middleweight title, fights on all the major cable networks, and bouts from coast to coast against some of the top fighters in the world.

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Anything can happen, but McKart is certain he’s fought his last fight.”That was it, the end of the road,” said McKart. “I talked about having my final fight in Monroe. But if I can’t beat Tony Harrison now ... I can’t go on. It’s been a great ride.”

The end result was anticlimatic to the grand entrance of Harrison, which included a red-shirted entourage of supporters who crowded into the ring before the fight, and a healthy gathering of McKart supporters from Monroe.

Harrison, sporting a shimmering red outfit with gray trim and a Detroit Red Wings logo on the front, was as confident as can be as he campaigns to accelerate his career. With each victory, he continues to climb up the notoriety scale of quality fighters.

“I hit him with a check hook and from there it was curtains,” said Harrison, anxious for more Detroiters, fans and businessmen to get on the Harrison bandwagon. “I’m a talented young man. I’m not the typical 23-year-old. Anything is possible through hard work. I’m waiting for Dan Gilbert or Mike Ilitch to come with me.”

Ilitch owns the Detroit Tigers and Detroit Red Wings, and Gilbert is founder of Rock Ventures and Quicken Loans, Inc. Both are multi-millionaires with business interests in Detroit.

Harrison is now 15-0 with 15 knockouts.

In other bouts, Anthony Barnes of Huntington Woods upped his record to 5-0 with a victory over Eric Moon, a former assistant

wrestling coach at Lamphere High School and a pro MMA fighter.Barnes dropped Moon in the third round with a right hand, then in the fourth round, landed several unanswered punches before the bout was stopped at 2:07 of the fourth.

“I felt fine, I wanted to get a clean knockout but the referee stopped it before I could,” said Barnes. “He’s (Moon) a veteran of pro MMA and strong. When he held on to me, he squeezed me. I just had to get him out of there.”

Michael Jordan of Detroit, making his pro debut against Detroit’s Dwayne Zeigler, left the ring with a broken rib according to one of the ring physicians. In the first round, Zeigler’s punch crumpled Jordan, who grimaced in pain and had to be helped out of the arena.

James Ballard of Detroit won a unanimous decision over Pete Cajigas of Flint in a light heavyweight bout, and Jafar Mohammad of Detroit made easy work of Mathew Andrews of Kalamazoo in his debut with a TKO at 58 seconds of the first round.

Mike Portillo of Detroit scored a TKO at 37 seconds of the first round over Jose Araguz of Kalamazoo for his second straight victory. “I came out and did everything I practiced in the gym,” said Portillo, who watched Araguz fall from a flurry of punches. “It was so fast, I think it was a right hook (but) he’s got a lot of heart.”

Leandre White struggled, but won a TKO over Mike PIckett of South Bend, Ind., who clinched cleverly to muffle some of White’s attack. “I was rusty, been off since October (and) had a little baby (Zyla),” said White.

Dorell Van Horn, sporting a blue T-shirt enscribed with “7 Mile Birth Legends,” scored a first round TKO with a punishing blow to the belly of Scott Dillard of Flint. I go to the boyd, that’s what I do,” said Van Horn, who explained the origins of the T-shirt. “This is my hood. Everybody from 7 Mile, I call them legends.”

Also, Amanda Cooper of Detroit won a unanimous decision over Brenda Rodriguez of Muskegon in their four-round bout “It was a good fight, she was a brawler,” Cooper said.